Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Tuesday October 16, 2012

Mesa County's looking to stablize after three years of budget cuts with no significant spending decreases or increases. Spokeswoman Jessica Peterson says resources are still tight, but there are some bright spots. The proposed 2013 budget is just over $154.5 million, a 3.4% increase over 2012.

About 13 jobs lost during the economic downturn in Grand Junction may be reinstated, including two police officer positions, and jobs in admin, parks and rec, utilities and the fire department. City Council is looking at next year's budget and also has money set aside for the Pear Park Fire Station, the Avalon Theater renovation and 22 Road realignment at U-S 6. The budget's to be adopted in December.

Almost 2 million ballots are headed to voters in the state. And with ballots coming in daily, the Colorado Secretary of State's Office is following the rate of return and will begin posting those Friday. Voters can still use the go vote colorado website to update their address, find early voting centers and to review their district information.

The Grand Junction Lions Club is accepting applications for funding from their annual carnival. The Lions expect to give away another $100,000 this year through the Community Betterment Committee. The application is available at gjlions.com, under the CBC link. Applications are due by the end of the month.

A Denver man has been idicted by a federal grand jury for failing to pay over $2.5 million in federal income, social security and medicare taxes collected from employees. 62 year old Lucilious Ward operated Global Access and collected the payments from the employees, but kept them for himself. If convicted, Ward faces more than $1 million in fines and 5 years in federal prison.

Colorado residents now have a new destination for information on water quatlity. The colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission's water sample database is now available on the agency's website. It's one of the largest collections of water quality data in the state. You can find it on the commission's website.

Home sales jumped up 10 to 12 percent in 2012 over last year in Colorado. The Denver Post though says credit restrictions are still making it tough for new home builders to finance new projects. Nationally, home sales are up 8 percent.

Four Pueblo City Schools have had federal grant funding taken away from 4 middle schools for low performance. The Pueblo Chieftain says the cuts will cost the schools more than $2 million this year. State ed officials say the schools were warnd about loswing the funding without improvement. Only one other school in the state, Gilpin Elementary in Denver, had its grant money suspended.

Foreclosure filings in the Roaring Fork Valley are down in the third quarter of the year. According to the Aspen Times, foreclosures in the first half of the year predicted a record number for the year on the whole, but the 3rd quarter numbers have changed that. One

The special master of the Aurora Victim Relief Fund has rleased the amounts victims of the movie theater shooting will received. According to the Denver Post, the victims seem resigned to the amounts. The families of the 12 killed and three who sustained brain damage or paralysis during the July 20th shooting, will receive 70% of the almost $5 million in donations, roughly $200,000 each. Those hospitalized will split the remaining $1.5 million. The money is expected to be paid out by Thanksgiving.

The special master of the Aurora Victim Relief Fund has rleased the amounts victims of the movie theater shooting will received. According to the Denver Post, the victims seem resigned to the amounts. The families of the 12 killed and three who sustained brain damage or paralysis during the July 20th shooting, will receive 70% of the almost $5 million in donations, roughly $200,000 each. Those hospitalized will split the remaining $1.5 million. The money is expected to be paid out by Thanksgiving.